My Flatmate is an Artist
by Hibaku
Summary: Sequel to My Flatmate is an Icecube. I know I said I would not be doing a sequel but... Minds change. Rukawa's POV hence more serious than prequel. Ru's a pro player, Erin and Tadashi are back plus Toki has a new roommate. Feedback appreciated.
1. Change

**Author's Note: **This is a risk considering that I have a major fic in another fandom going on, but I decided to plunge in anyway. I hope you all like it! And I hereby present – the sequel to _My Flatmate is an Icecube_.

**1: Change**

It is possible for humans to change in a short period of time. I do not mean to say that it is easy (it by no means is) but I do know that it's possible.

For example, that half-wit Sakuragi could progress from a world-class academic dunce to a slightly above average student by the time his university entrance exams took place, thanks to Akagi. And I'm not talking about my first-year captain Akagi; I'm talking about his sister. Apparently she and Sakuragi got together sometime during the end of our second year in high school – it did help him in his studies (and perhaps even his basketball… Even so, I am still not ready to admit that) but did nothing to make him a more mature person. At least, not to others outside the circle of Sakuragi-Akagi.

But I doubt you are satisfied. Perhaps this is not a good enough illustration of the changing of a person in a short time. Perhaps I should cite another example. Perhaps I should tell you what happened three months ago, when Toki moved out of her own apartment…

…Leaving me alone.

**x**

"Apparently 'don't be stupid' is an _excruciatingly _tall order for you," Toki hissed sarcastically, throwing her clothes into her luggage bag.

I was quiet; not because I wanted to be, but because I didn't know how to say what I was supposed to say.

"I coach you for a whole summer and the four months after that," she paused to take a ragged breath, "pour my heart and soul into helping you secure a place in university, and YOU TELL ME YOU DIDN'T TAKE THE ENTRANCE EXAM!" she screeched in crescendo, throwing up her hands for emphasis.

_I'm sorry…I didn't know you'd be this upset._

"But you know what, Rukawa Kaede?" her voice simmered down to a calm, dangerous tone. "I am really pissed because you _kept it from me_. The entrance exam was four months ago and you're only telling me now. You resigned from Kouei and you didn't tell me. What nerve."

I took a step towards her bag to take out her belongings.

"If you didn't take the entrance exam but told me, I would have understood," she glared at me fiercely, tears springing to her eyes. "But did you? Did you tell me about all your plans? The entrance exam wasn't the only thing you kept from me! To think you're my best friend!"

"You can't move out of your own apartment," I quietly responded, reaching towards her clothes.

She stared, her hands frozen above the opened bag. "Is that all you're going to say?"

I withdrew my fingers and shut up again.

She stormed into The Back and I followed her. Reaching into her drawer she pulled out a sketchbook that I had never seen before. She then threw it at me.

"This was meant for your entrance to university," she snarled in contempt, before returning to the room, taking her stuffed monkey from her bunk and trudging through the door. Without a sideways glance at me, she curtly informed, "I'll be back one of these days to get my other stuff in The Back."

I finally managed to wring out something from the depths of my throat. "I'll be at home next week. On afternoons."

She turned left to the front door, but I remained rooted.

"No need," she eventually pronounced. "I'll just watch the sports channel and drop by when it shows that you're playing live."

She then plunged the key into the lock, turned it, and within all five seconds of clicks and slams she was gone.

They say there is a thin line between love and hate. I presume that with friendship, it is the same because from that day onwards, Toki certainly wasn't herself anymore.

**x**

Toki and I have a very… different relationship. We have never been romantically involved and even though we lived together for about two years in total we had never shared the same bed.

The fact is we aren't lovers.

My mother and younger siblings (young as they are) have always wondered aloud if we would 'ever happen'. I would constantly reply them with a definite no, but in the last three months I happen to have changed my mind. But that just means the 'no' is not so definite anymore.

We were previously mentor-mentee, when I was still a small fry in Kouei Publishing, struggling to make ends meet as a manga artist. Obviously, she was my mentor because she is better. Then we became flatmates due to an unexpected turn of events that involved my home's electricity being cut off. After that I got introduced to my father and moved in with him but I decided that Toki needed someone at home to look after her (she was independent but could forget to eat when she was working) so I moved back last summer. She helped me with my studies whole-heartedly while trying to learn basketball half-heartedly. I had always seen her as a good friend, and she had always seen me as both a good friend and younger brother. (She used to have a younger brother but he died of an asthma attack years back, and she often mentioned that she loved to look after me just as she did for him.)

It is rare for me to confess my feelings so honestly to myself, but seeing that I am somewhat distraught at not being able to see Toki everyday snatching the takoyaki away from me and fighting me for the remote, it seems right to speak up.

After all, I'm not telling this to anyone else.

I believe there is a part of me that is pining for her – I still cannot bring myself to call it love, because if I loved her I would not have hurt her. And apparently I have hurt her deeply, because her whereabouts are currently unknown to me.

She is avoiding me on purpose.

I have already called her mother, but Toki isn't in London. I managed to email her father, but he too has replied that she has not contacted him. I have gone to her school in Tokyo but they refuse to disclose her address and timetable, claiming that it is against the school's policy to reveal the students' particulars. I have waited outside all the gates of her campus whenever I can squeeze free time into my schedule, but I have never seen her.

However, there are two other people that I haven't asked yet. Unfortunately, I do not want to ask them because they happen to be Sendoh Akira and Kawasaki Tadashi – the former is my rival, the latter is my half-brother.

I do know, for a fact, that Toki cannot hide from me forever.

**x**

"Hey Ru," Toki flopped onto the couch and shoved a few documents under my nose. "Look."

I'd only moved back for two days and she was making my life miserable by making me sign a new contract for the apartment, probably some new additions to bathroom ettiquette.

"English," I uttered.

She sighed and read off the paper, translating badly as she went. "Um, dear Tokita Kaede, we are, um, _pleased _to inform you that you have been, um, _offered–_"

"Summarize it," I suggested, relieved it wasn't another soul-selling issue.

"Good idea. Basically, what should I major in?"

"Math." I meant it as a joke.

"But I suck at Math."

"I know." She had to copy Sendoh's Math homework everyday back in high school.

She socked me on the arm. "Okay so what about English?"

"You already know English," I pointed out.

"But a degree would be different, wouldn't it?"

I shrugged. An English degree gotten by an English-speaker in Japan would pale in comparison to, say, a political science degree gotten by an English-speaker in Japan. And I personally felt that Toki could do something like, journalism perhaps – she made it clear that she didn't want to major in arts because she thought that wouldn't provide stable income. She did have a flair for writing. Developing manga with her for so long had made me see where her strengths lay.

"Hm, you're right. I should diversify and apply my skill instead of honing it further."

Yes, we had a connection.

She exhaled. "What do you think about journalism?"

I propped my chin on my palm, my fingers masking the upturn of my lips.

**x**

I remember smiling very little before I met Toki. The only times I'd smile would be on the basketball court after a highly satisfying win. And that was rare, because most wins were mundane for me.

People in high school often thought that I'm a mysterious individual whose vocabulary is limited to 'pass' and nothing bothers me except for basketball. I would like to clarify this.

For one, I don't make an effort to be mysterious. It's just that no one bothers to stalk me to find out where I live, what I eat or how many times I defecate per day. Also, I don't speak much because no one speaks to me. Apart from on the court and Sakuragi calling me names (I only respond to him because he's irritating and it provides a cheap thrill to sink more baskets than him) I believe no one else speaks to me. If they do, they're girls and they whisper. Sometimes they scream. Other times they bore. You cannot blame me for not replying.

And for the nothing bothers me except for basketball part, I'd say that my family makes me bothered, in a nicer sense of the word. However I honestly do not care for what is happening around me unless it concerns my family.

Recently, this spectrum of concern has extended to Toki. And as I look at the sketchbook in which she has chronicled all our funniest, most pointless tiffs while studying in illustrations, I can't help but frown and wonder where she is.

I glance at the date display on my watch. It's been exactly three months.

I try to swallow my pride and attempt to reach for the phone, but my mind tells me that no way am I going to resort to my last move when I haven't got checkmated yet.

But someone beats me to the last move.

The phone rings.

**x**

I don't pick it up and leave the voice-mail to do it.

"Hi Kaede, this is Tadashi."

I try not to freeze. I sit back on the couch to listen to the message.

"I think you've changed your cell number, so I'm calling your landline."

She had. I think it is because of me. I am somehow happy to entertain that thought but I am not sure why.

"Anyway, my classmate just called me about the 40th anniversary. It'll be great to see you again. I'm still stuck in Canada; apparently there are some problems with my visa. I guess I'll have to settle them as soon as possible. Tell my brother I said hi. See you."

With a click, he disconnected.

**x**

What was that about? I sigh and get up to leave the living room before the phone rings again. I stare at it for awhile before gingerly picking it up.

"Kaede?" a male voice drifts over to my ear before I speak.

"Which one?" I ask; it is the landline after all.

"Tokita," is the simple reply, with a hint of bewilderment.

"She's not here," I reply flatly and proceed to put down the phone. Upon hearing the yelp from the other end I put the receiver to my ear again.

"What?" I probe.

"I said, where is she and what are you doing in her home?"

"Don't know. None of your business why I'm here."

I really don't mean to sound so sardonic, honestly. It just comes out.

"Uh, okay. Anyway could you take a message?"

I grunt in agreement. I still can take messages; it is still Toki's home and there is always the chance that she'll drop by when I'm at a game to see the messages. If she ever does, at least I'll know that she's alive.

"Please tell her that there will be a reunion on the second Sunday of September at Ryonan High School, 5 PM. It's a major event because it's the school's 40th anniversary. I can't get Sendoh or Sayaka to tell her because they're in Hawaii for an exchange program. Thanks. This is Koshino. Bye."

**x**

"I'm moving out."

"What do you mean, move out?" Toki raised her eyebrows at me as she looked over my shoulder. I was drawing a manga that told our story that happened in the late part of my second year of high school – in all truthful detail, including the plot twists with the guy Toki was in love with being my half-brother. The only fibs in the story were the characters' names.

"You go to school in Tokyo," I stated the obvious.

"Ah, no need for you to move out," Toki dismissed my notion with a wave of her hand. "I'll be commuting to Tokyo from here."

"Why." According to her Sendoh, his girlfriend and a number of her acquaintances had already moved to Tokyo because their universities were in the heart of that city. Incidentally Sendoh and Toki ended up in the same school. I wasn't that worried because the girlfriend was there – but with Sendoh, anything can happen.

She grinned. "I want to make sure you draw me prettier than my mother, even though she has fake boobs."

**x**

I don't know why I stayed on in Toki's apartment even though she has moved out. I do feel a nagging guilt when I think about her father paying for the water and electricity, but I can't seem to bring myself away. Every time I try to leave I find myself coming back. It probably isn't the flat itself.

It can never be the flat itself.


	2. Favors

**2: Favors**

"You stupid boy!" Erin-san lunges at me and locks me in an embrace. I am puzzled; why is she hugging me if she wants to demean my intelligence? I see the bags at the door and smell the scent of red wine as her hair tickles my nose.

Erin-san is Toki's mother, and I do not have the faintest idea why she is in Japan. It also happens to be 3 AM in the morning. I also happen to be up, which has been the case since Toki moved out.

She then sets me apart from her and keeps her hands gripped around my arms.

"I decided to come here when you called me last week," she explains in her heavily accented Japanese. "I've come to help you."

I do not say anything. I stare.

"Eddy hasn't called in a long while, and the only correspondence I've been having with her is through letters and emails. I didn't find it odd until you told me last week that you haven't been able to reach her. How long has it been?"

"Three months."

"THREE MONTHS! And you only called me last week?"

I breathe in response.

"You stupid boy!" she repeats and sighs dramatically. "We have to make things right."

I look at her.

"Speak up, boy!" She is irritated. I am taken aback for a moment – Toki could always understand what I wanted to say even though I never told her verbally. I am not used to interacting with people who cannot understand my form of language.

(Therefore there is hardly anyone I interact with.)

I mentally sigh and voice, "What do you mean by that?"

"We have to find my daughter. But first, let me into the house."

**x**

"So you're telling me she left because you joined the All Japan instead of furthering your studies as you promised?"

"I never promised."

"And what else did you do?" Erin-san frowns – she knows that it takes more than that to make Toki storm out of my presence and ignore my existence for three months.

I sigh, audibly this time. "I didn't do my entrance exam. I did take it – I went for the examination, that is – but I looked through the paper and I knew I could do all the questions."

Erin-san stops fiddling with the edge of the pillow and her eyes are fixated on me. "You knew you could do all the questions, and that was enough for you?"

I nod.

"So you didn't write anything on the paper?"

I shake my head.

"You stupid boy," she declares. "What else?"

"I resigned from Koueisha."

"No wonder. It makes sense to if you're going to play basketball fulltime, but we all know how much sense it makes to Eddy," Erin-san rolls her eyes. "She has quite a temper when it comes to such things. And I presume you didn't tell her that you were going to skip the exam, join the national team and quit your job as a manga artist until _after _you did all these atrocities?"

"Aa."

"That's all, right?"

I nod.

"You see, Rukawa-kun, the problem here is that you did not inform Eddy about your plans. If only you opened your gold-filled mouth, she probably will still be around and I wouldn't have had to cough up a huge sum of money for my air-ticket."

One similar thing about Erin-san and Toki is that both of them are as blunt as each other. I presume that their similarities end there. From what I know, Toki is more like her father.

"Can you reply a question honestly?" Erin-san puts her hand on my knee gently.

I nod, only the slightest bit apprehensive.

"Do you love my daughter?"

I shrug. I promised to reply her honestly, so I say, "If I love her I wouldn't have hurt her."

Erin-san frowns and ploughs on, "Why didn't you tell her about your plans, then?"

"I wasn't sure if she would react the way I wanted."

"You are such a selfish apehead."

"Sorry."

"You should have just told her what you wanted to do. My daughter may be stubborn and rash but she is definitely not unforgiving."

"I know."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I thought you're helping me."

"I can't help you if you don't try to help yourself. I can easily get Eddy to meet up with me because I'm in Japan and that alone will suffice as a justification. I think you need to make some sacrifices, boy."

I frown.

"You're puzzled?" Erin-san sighs. "Okay, let me explain it to your properly. Girls often say that they don't expect you to give them anything in return for favors, but that is wrong. It is not only wrong, it is **_WRONG_**. You get it?"

I chew the inside of my lower lip.

"Let me hear you speak, boy!"

"Uh, yes."

"Right. What has Eddy done for you so far and she has said 'its okay, no problem' but you think it's a big favor done and you've wondered why on earth does she give you this crap about not wanting anything back?"

I pause to think. There are a numerous number of such incidents. Letting me live with her because of my mother's financial burdens was the first, followed by giving me invaluable lessons in tricks of the manga trade and more recently, coaching me in my university entrance exams, which I didn't take.

"I presume your silence translates to an insurmountable amount of such favors?"

I nod.

"And do you feel guilty?"

Since when do I feel guilty?

I consider this for a moment. I tilt my head and try to understand the feeling that has been troubling me for the past three months. It is like my heart has been anchored to my gut. Often I stay up late into the night unable to rationalize why I feel like tearing the pillows apart. I also often fall asleep thinking about the moment when Toki's normally gentle features had hardened into a harsh picture of anger.

"With love comes expectation – that is human. No such thing as unconditional love here on earth. When there are expectations there are letdowns. Letdowns automatically involve guilt – unless you're an animal, but then if you're an animal it wouldn't be love in the first place," Erin-san muses philosophically. "I think the first thing that you should do is to give her an unconditional favor of your own."

**x**

Thirteen hours later my cell phone rings. I flip it open and grunt into the microphone.

"Kaede?"

I try to unearth recognition for the voice I hear from the murky depths of my primary processing unit that some people call my brain but Toki chooses to call The Living Sponge. Of course, she hasn't made any explicit reference to it verbally but she has made it apparent in our manga collaborations when she writes the author's notes.

"This is Tadashi."

"Since when have we been on a first name basis?" I growl.

"You _are _my brother."

I snort quietly.

"Stop being childish."

That's it. I snap the phone shut. Of course, it doesn't take long to ring again. Damn.

"What?" I demand, deciding to shut him up once and for all. He isn't a bad person, but he gets on my nerves often enough.

"I can't reach Kaede and I just want to know if she is with you."

"She is not."

"I'm back in Japan."

"I don't care."

"I would like to meet up with you, actually."

"Don't want to."

"Can you not be so antagonistic? I don't hate you."

"I hate you."

There is silence. Actually, I didn't mean that, but the whole three-worded reply thing was starting to grow on me.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he murmurs softly. The thing is he sounds genuinely upset, and that creates a gnawing guilt somewhere in my chest cavity.

Since when do I feel the presence of guilt?

With a click he disconnects, and I realize that I want to tear my pillows apart.

_Author's Note: Thank you all for reviewing. It is much appreciated, and I understand that the chapters are awfully short, but I don't think Ru is loquacious enough to carry on lengthy monologues. At least, I think short chapters fit his personality better. Do leave me feedback if I have room for improvement! Cheers, Hibaku._


	3. Alleyoop

**3: Alley-oop **

Toki once asked me to imagine how a basketball feels when it is dunked. It is rather stupid to imagine how a ball feels, I had said. I conveniently forgot about her request in the split second that followed because Iverson made an assist and my mind had married the TV.

But now, when I really try thinking about it, I realize that it should hurt. You see, you get passed, and then before you know anything you are slammed into a hoop. Sometimes you get slapped from one hand to the other before you get to the metal. You struggle through the net. You hit the floor so bloody hard because the idiot who put you through the basket didn't bother to consider letting you off with a lay-up. To make matters worse, the person who put you through all that is actually happy that he did it.

Pain. Disappointment. Everything a basketball should know.

**x**

Practice today is at the Tokyo University of Science because the Minato Sports Complex, where practice is usually held, is under renovation for a month. Apparently they need to fix the floor. I'm not complaining, TUS has a great gym that was completed this spring.

"Heads up!" my teammate Morigawa heaves the ball to me. I leap, catch, stretch, dunk.

"Show off," he chortles, not unkindly.

Morigawa is a year older and he is studying in Waseda University. We're both in the under-20 national team. We get along – he's professional, having played in the national team for a few years thanks to the elevator system in Waseda. We're not exactly rivals because I'm not nearly as good as he is, but close. He acknowledges the fact that I am a player too even though he's got more experience and for that, I respect him. We're both early.

"So, what's this I hear? Yane says you're taking a break for one whole off-season," he cocks an eyebrow at me, scooping the ball at it reached the peak of its bounce. "You know, Rukawa, it's dangerous. Your sponsor might even stop backing you up."

I shrug and secretly curse Yane-senpai for leaking that information out. "I have stuff to do."

"Right," Morigawa nods in mock seriousness, "_stuff_. When a guy says that, it's either about women, money or work. Apparently it's so important that you can risk committing an entire off-season of your job to it _plus _you aren't afraid of the funds being cut off, there leaves only one option."

He throws me the ball again, and I dunk forcefully.

**x**

"Oi, Kitsune!"

My stomach ties itself into a knot and I stop breathing. Sitting across the room from him for the whole of my third-year had not helped my grades at all. Across the classroom, mind.

"What are _you_ doing _here_?"

My hair is wet from the shower I just took approximately three minutes ago and I am carrying a duffel bag with a giveaway bulge that a normal person understands to be a rather large, rather heavy ball. A normal person would also be good enough to guess what the color of said ball is. I am also wearing a windbreaker with the words All-Japan emblazoned on it, accompanied with the customary icon on the right breast. I am wearing my new pair of white Nikes, an Air Jordan Melo Version 5 "5.5". Lastly, I am standing three feet from the doors of the gym.

Judging from his valiantly imploring gaze, he is still unable to conclude that I am here to play basketball.

"I should be asking you that, do'ahou."

"I'm studying here," he pats his chest proudly. I mentally raise my eyebrows. This idiot could get into the Tokyo University of Science?

Damn, I should've taken my entrance exam. (Just to prove a point.)

Sakuragi Hanamichi is someone I don't hate nor adore. I don't seem to dislike him but every time he calls me names I just need to retaliate. I have no idea why. Toki says it is one of those guy friendship things, whatever that means. I just think that the word 'friendship' is somewhat overused whenever she makes that comment.

"I always believed you were stupid," grins the redhead that I desperately want to gag and bind. "But apparently since you go here…" he trails off, shrugging.

I just look at him, contemplating whether I need to reply or not.

"Anyway, what do you major in?" he prods the air pocket in front of me with his index finger.

"Basketball." Yes, I decided to answer him.

"There's a basketball degree here?" his eyes are really huge now.

Surprise, surprise. He _is _still a world-class dunce.

"Do'ahou. I'm playing basketball full-time." I don't waste any sarcasm on him because I know he probably wouldn't get it. Normally, it's more fun to torture him with straight-to-the-point answers.

"Huh?" He is evidently puzzled. I sigh and wave my hand dismissively to dispel his confusion and start making a move to leave.

"Wait, wait!" He strides over to me with that awkward gait of his. "So you aren't studying anymore? Then why are you here?"

I continue walking. He keeps striding.

"Oi, Kitsune!" he bellows. "Tell me!"

"What do you care?" I retort coolly, stopping and turning to face him. He pauses and looks me in the eye.

I brace myself. _Cue punch._

Unexpectedly, he laughs. "Nyahahaha! You're still the same. Same old Foxyface."

But he's changed, I can see that. I relax my shoulders ever so unnoticeably and scrutinize him with the slightest lowering of my eyelids.

The way he walks, the way he talks, the expressions that his face can offer – they're still the same, but not quite the same. They're not exactly totally different – there is a shadow of the imbecilic Sakuragi I used to know – but something sure as hell has changed.

I suddenly realize that I've… _missed_ this moron. Looking at him I am suddenly reminded of Mitsui-senpai and Miyagi-senpai – at the same time, nonetheless. The three of them always struck me as a group of screws that were, of course, loose. But on the court it was a different story.

Before I have time to think about the other members during my time in Shohoku, Sakuragi holds up his palms skyward.

"You're acting speech-impaired, as usual. I have to go pick Haruko up, bye."

He turns to go and I am suddenly compelled by the urge to tell him why I am at his university, to ask him where the other guys are right now, to know what his major is, to know if he is still playing basketball.

But he's already disappeared into the swarm of people in the open-air cafeteria. It seems that people always walk away from me before I tell them I don't want them to.

I feel like I've been dunked.


	4. Meiga

**READ THIS FIRST.  
**_I'M SO SORRY! I know this is such a big break that I'm taking but this fic's always been on my mind and now that I've finished reading Hana-Kimi, there has been newfound inspiration for fic-writing! Thank you all for bearing with me._

**4: Meiga**

I have to admit I wasn't prepared for Erin-san's first option to me – she wanted me to give up my career and enter the winter prep term.

I told her I couldn't do it. She seemed to have expected that.

Then she suggested another way around it – taking the season off (after all, it wasn't called 'off-season' for nothing) to perform a stakeout at Meiga University. She didn't want to betray her daughter too much, but she (Erin-san) did want to help me get her back.

That I could at least comply with.

So here I am, lurking outside Meiga University's Social Studies faculty. I have to say that honestly, I've never been an impatient person. My forte is waiting. (And sleeping.)

I pace around the main gate – it's not that I'm not allowed to go in, I am – contemplating whether to just enter and trying to catch Toki.

I stop for a moment and look at my watch. It's mid-June already. It's supposed to rain anytime, but I don't remember it raining heavily the last few weeks. Automatically I look up at the sky. No, it's not dark yet.

Damn it. Since when am I concerned about the weather? Don't I have anything better to do?

Finally I plop myself on a bench and stare at the lamppost opposite me, thinking about Toki.

I had moved back to her apartment in summer last year after my five month stint with my dad. She had graduated from Ryonan High School into Meiga University in a few months before that, but had applied for a one-year deferment immediately after.

What else.

I had just finished drawing one of my series and she had just begun on another.

Rubbing my neck, I think about why she took the deferment. The bi-annual International Arts Festival is coming up this year, so she took time off from last year to begin on her 'greatest work ever'. Besides that was her manga career that was really taking off after she published her first serious work on her own.

**x**

"_Okay, make sentences," Toki jabbed at a row of words she hard written on a piece of paper. We were preparing for my entrance exams that were two months away (and which I eventually did not take)._

_I spun my pencil with my fingers as I zeroed in on a word that was new to me. "What's this," I pointed._

"'_In-e-vi-ta-ble'."_

_I stared at her._

"_It means you cannot stop something from happening," she replied, understanding my look._

_I thought for awhile and said the first thing that came to mind, "'It was inevitable that Toki failed her Math test.'"_

_She looked as if she didn't know whether to laugh or hit me, so she did both._

"_Oi," I complained, pushing her rolled-up exercise book away from my head. _

"_You don't have to so truthful," she grumbled with traces of a smile on her face, "but at least I see my efforts paying off. It's worth coaching you!" _

_She offered me a grin. _Inevitably_, I didn't grin back. Anyway she didn't expect me to._

"_You know I told you that I'm deferring university because of my new series and my competition entry, right?" she suddenly said. _

_I gave her a nod._

"_Well, I'm glad that besides concentrating on these two things, I get to help you with your studies. Ah," she smiled sheepishly and rubbed her head, "I sound like a mother who's been a workaholic and has finally quit her job to be with her kid!"_

_I felt my lips turn upward ever so slightly. _

_Motivated, I looked at the list in front of me and chose a word. I then said in English, "'My friend works in a publishing accompany.'"_

"_Oh dear, I'd better take back what I said about my efforts paying off…" her shoulders drooped as she drilled me on what 'accompany' really meant._

**x**

Honestly, I never thought Toki would take me disappointing her so seriously.

I am such a bastard.

"Rukawa-kun?" A voice, albeit with a tinge of amazement and shock, breaks me out of my reverie.

_Who calls me that…?_ I wonder, turning around.

"Akagi," I pronounce, slightly surprised. I didn't know she attended Meiga. She was our manageress after Ayako-san graduated. I've never been acquainted with her very much before our third-year, but after she got together with Sakuragi it seemed as if she talked to me more.

She claps her hands and exclaims, "It's so good to see you! What are you doing here? Do you go here?"

"No," I say, flat-toned.

"You look like you're waiting for somebody," she smiles good-naturedly and sits beside me on the bench. "I'm waiting for Hanamichi."

I think it's only polite to give some form of reply. "Hn."

There's silence for awhile. I believe that Akagi is somewhat at a loss because she doesn't know what to say to me.

"Ah, you're playing basketball full-time now, right? I saw you on TV."

I nod.

"I really thought you would go to university, you know…" she muses and sits back on the bench. "You seemed to be such a good student in our third-year. We all noticed that you slept less!" she giggles.

I have no idea they noticed. Even I didn't notice.

"Do you know that one day," she continues, "Kayama-sensei stopped me in the hallway and said seriously, 'You're the basketball club's manageress right?'"

I think for a moment. I think Kayama-sensei was my Chemistry teacher.

"I really thought one of our players had gotten into trouble! But he then said, 'You and your coach are doing an amazing job. All the third-year boys on your team aren't neglecting their exams, I can see. It's such a difference from last year!'" she laughs and blushes a little. "I felt so, so proud of all of you."

I nod and say, "Thanks."

I really mean it, and I'm surprised that I do.

She beams at me. "No, don't mention it!"

An idea strikes me.

"Aa, Akagi."

"Yes, Rukawa-kun?"

"What's your major?"

"Education and culture, why?" she raises her eyebrows and cocks her head.

"Hn. Nothing."

_Pity._

"I'm doing a minor in Journalism though. Are you interested in taking some courses or something?" She bends forward to look at me.

I think that my waiting is paying off. A burning sensation rises up from my stomach and explodes all over my chest – what on earth is this? My heart beats faster in anticipation.

"Journalism. You know anyone from that department?"

She nods vehemently. "Of course! They're very friendly. And it's a big department so they're everywhere. My roommate–"

"HARUKO-CHAN–!" interrupts someone. "I'm here–!"

"Ah! Hello!" Akagi waves cheerfully.

I know that voice. The bearer of that voice walks up to us and finally is able to see past his girlfriend.

"Eh! Kitsune?" The idiot's eyes almost pops out of his head. "What are you trying to do with Haruko!" he points an accusatory finger at me

"Ch. Do'ahou," I mutter from my perch on the bench. There is at least thirty centimeters between Akagi and I.

"Ah, Hanamichi, we were just chatting…" Haruko gives me an embarrassed smile. "I just met Rukawa-kun over here."

His mouth shapes into an 'O' in realization. "Hey, Kitsune, you playing basketball at Meiga today?" He peers at me.

I stuff my hands into my pockets and shrug. "I'm on a break."

Sakuragi throws back his head and laughs. "So you're not playing basketball for now? I bet they kicked you out, nyahahaha!"

I am not amused.

"Ah, Hanamichi, that's not a very nice thing to say!" Akagi is flustered and gives me an apologetic look. I shrug to tell her I'm fine.

"Nice meeting you," I nod to Akagi and purposely ignore the dunce. I decide to give up my stakeout for today and turn to leave.

"Oi, Kitsune!"

I stop and turn around.

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

I shrug. I probably will.

"I want to challenge you!" There's a gleam in Sakuragi's eye.

"…." (I don't know what to say. It's too sudden.)

"Then, I want to eat ice-cream, so you give me a treat."

"……."

"No matter who wins, you have to give me a treat," Sakuragi strides over to meet me eye-to-eye. "Oh, and Haruko too."

"Hanamichi…" Akagi visibly wilts in embarrassment.

I stare at him for a moment.

"Do'ahou," I offer.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT YOU STUPID FOX! I AM THE GENIUS BASKETMAN–"

"Tomorrow then."

He shuts up, and I turn around and leave. I believe that he is silent because he can't believe that I agreed and he's currently staring at my retreating back like the world-class dunce that he is.

I contemplate if I want to put up my hand to say bye or not.

Maybe next time.


	5. Cold Feet

**Many thanks to all who have reviewed, and thanks for your support. Sorry for the extremely long wait, but here's Chapter Five. Special thanks to those who have stuck with me since 'My Flatmate is an Icecube'! Cheers.**

**5: Cold Feet**

The rain is pelting down and I haven't got an umbrella. Summer rains are exceedingly troublesome, but at least they are not that cold.

I am at my second stakeout destination, Kouei.

It's been quite a few months since I've worked here, and I survey the structure, the falling water stinging my eyes. There seems to be a tug-and-pull effect from the building, luring me into the working room to start drawing drafts.

I used to do that, at least.

I do miss drawing. It provided me with a recluse, somewhat. It was like the static parallel of basketball. But if you ask me which do I miss most, basketball or manga, I'd say basketball.

And I've only stopped playing for a mere few days.

**x**

"Rukawa-kun!" Shinohara-san waves to me as I step out onto the seventh floor of the building, before realizing I look somewhat different. "Good heavens, you're drenched."

Greetings started flying around.

"Hey, Rukawa!"

"How's it going in the basketball world, eh?"

"Heads up, towel!" hollers an ex-colleague, and I catch it, nodding to him in thanks. I drape it over my head.

"Welcome back!"

"WE SEE YOU ON TV!"

I put up a hand to acknowledge everyone and walk up to Shinohara-san, my socks squishing in my shoes.

"Sir, I need to speak to you."

"You'd better dry off first," he grins, cocking his head towards the washroom. "Then, you can come to my office."

I nod and head towards the toilet, my feet squelching all the way, earning a few laughs.

**x**

"She gave me specific instructions not to tell you her timetable," chuckles Shinohara-san. "Lover's tiff, eh?"

My eyes avert his gaze upon reflex. "No, it's not like that." I shiver slightly, as my wet body responds to the blast of the air-conditioning.

I steel myself and look at his eyes again.

"But you were living together," Shinohara-san folds his fingers together and props his elbows on the table, his expression suddenly serious.

I am momentarily stunned, even though my expression reveals nothing. Shinohara-san opens his mouth to speak, as if he has heard my inner thoughts.

"I just happened to look at your file after you left, and at the same time I was recommending her for an award," shrugs my ex-supervisor, "then I realized that your addresses were the same."

"Aa."

"Rukawa-kun… I don't know the full details of what happened but I do know it has taken quite a toll on your friendship. And I'm sorry, because I felt that both of you were great partners. You guys had the whole manga world going for you."

I nod to him, and am only slightly distracted as my hands freeze in the low temperature of Shinohara-san's room.

We _had_ made quite a lot of money for the company. Shinohara-san shakes his head, expressing as much regret as if he has played an active role in the near-destruction of Toki's and my relationship.

"Rukawa-kun, no matter what, Kaede is a girl. You need to be sensitive to women," Shinohara-san pauses, and I can tell from the reddening of his neck that he is slightly embarrassed to be making this speech to me.

"Even though I am only hazarding guesses at what happened between the both of you, I think it is important that you be more open and learn how to talk about things more. I know you are quiet, private even, by nature – and it will be doubly hard for you because you don't make a conscious choice to be like this, but at least try…" He trails off, eyes closed.

I realize that he probably has encountered certain similar problems before, and personal experience is driving him to warn me. If my memory serves me correctly, Toki once told me that Shinohara-san is a divorcee.

I resist the urge to sneeze as the effect of the strong air-conditioning permeates every inch of my body, right down to my toes.

"You do know why she is angry, do you?"

I am silent to that imploration, and I know Shinohara-san has interpreted my silence correctly. He sighs and picks up a notepad and a pen.

"I just hope she doesn't kill me when you manage to find her," he mutters as his pen scratches the paper.

Shinohara-san hands me the memo and I thank him, looking down at all of Toki's deadlines and the times that she is expected to hand in her manuscripts.

My feet squelch once more as I stand up, and I take note of how cold they are.


End file.
